Caught In a Draft
The Raiders will pick seventh in the 2006 NFL Draft after losing a coin flip with the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 24 in Indianapolis. The Bay Area franchises were among five teams that went 4-12 in 2005, tying for the third worst record. A coin toss was required because Oakland and San Francisco also tied on strength of schedule tiebreaker.

The top seven picks for the 2006 NFL Draft: 1. Houston (2-14), 2. New Orleans (3-13), 3. Tennessee (4-12), 4. New York Jets, 5. (4-12), Green Bay (4-12), 6. San Francisco (4-12), 7. Oakland (4-12).

The 2006 NFL Draft will be held in New York on April 29-30.

2006 Opponents
A rare home game against the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers is among the highlights of the Raiders' 2006 schedule. The Steelers last played the Raiders in Oakland in 1995.

According to the NFL, the Raiders will play the following teams in the 2006 season:

Home: Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, Arizona, Cleveland, Houston, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Road: Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, Baltimore, Cincinnati, New York Jets, San Francisco and Seattle.

Oakland's 2006 schedule includes games against four 2005 playoffs teams — Cincinnati, Denver, Pittsburgh and Seattle. The combined 2005 record of Oakland's 2006 opponents is 132-124. For the 2005 season, the combined 2004 record of Oakland opponents was 135-121.

The Raiders play four teams each from the AFC North and NFC West as part of the league's eight-year schedule formula, which began in 2002. Oakland's games against Houston and the New York Jets were determined because the Raiders finished last in the AFC West and drew the last-place finisher in the AFC South and AFC East.